Get Back in the Saddle

By Patricia Frank

There is an old adage that when you fall off a horse, you must get back on the horse immediately. If you don’t you may never get back in the saddle. Time is of the essence. The premise is that fear will build up inside of you and will prevent you from ever mounting a horse or riding again.

There are things that occur in your everyday life that are similar to falling off a horse.These events and situations can be equally traumatic. They usually contain the same element of surprise. You may find yourself knocked down, wondering, “What just happened?” Don’t think about it while you are down. You must treat the event in the same way as falling off the horse. Get up and get back on your feet and handle it right away. This is one of the times in your life when you should act before thinking.

Later, you will have the opportunity to examine all of the circumstances of the event. It is a good idea to analyze the episode and try to understand the forces at work. Ask yourself, “How did that happen?” There are things that you might be responsible for that could have been prevented. Were you too casual about it? Were you distracted or too preoccupied to see it coming? Did you neglect or skip a key step in your safety routine? If you do not have your own personal safety routine create one. Look for things that you could have or should have done differently. Resolve to do them in the future.

Sometimes, you are not responsible for what happened at all. The horse might have been frightened and reared-up and you slipped right off. You could not have prevented it. There are occurrences in your own life that you cannot prevent or avoid as well. As a human being you are vulnerable to the vicissitudes of life. Always learn from the event or situation and choose to move on.